Below is a contributed post by fellow blogger, Leia. Along with her best friend, she currently runs a fashion site from London that regularly updates readers with the latest high fashion looks and must-haves. As she was one of our first followers here at Lipstick Masala, I am honored that she has kindly taken the time to share some of her favorite beauty techniques with us. If your hair is suffering from winter woes, this post is for you! Leia has outlined some fantastic tips and tricks that have left her hair beautifully thick and silky. Check out her fabulous site over at http://hifashionsl.blogspot.com/!

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For most of us, winter has finally arrived. Whether you love the season or the cold makes you depressed and homesick, one thing is for sure: winter wreaks havoc on your hair! Wind, dry air, and central heating can cause dryness and split ends. Here are some of my tips for keeping your hair luscious when the temperatures drop.

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Deep Treatments

Extreme cold can suck the moisture out of your hair: combat this by applying deep conditioning treatments to keep your hair soft and healthy! Some ideas…

1) My favorite store-bought conditioner is Lush Henna & Jasmine Fluff Eaze (Click HERE for link) It smells divine and makes my hair feel amazing!

2) To add extra moisture to your usual conditioner, add some honey. I roughly use the proportion 1 part honey/2 parts conditioner. Make sure you mix the two before applying it to your hair. I know it sounds sticky but it’s a quick fix and works really well!

3) If you have a bit of extra time, why not consider making your own hair treatment?

Natural Hair Treatment

- 1 tsp olive oil (or whatever you prefer: almond and coconut also work well)
- 1.5 tbsp yogurt
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp coffee (optional, but it brings out the dark tones of brunette hair)
- 1 egg

If you’re worried about egg smells, you can add a drop or two of some essential oil (e.g. rosemary, lavender – whatever you like!) Mix the coffee with boiling water, add the oil and honey, and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds. When it cools, add the egg and the yogurt. Apply to your hair and leave on for as long as you like – then rinse and shampoo!

4) Do you suffer from dry scalp? Try this…
- Massage some oil into your scalp
- Prepare a bowl of conditioner and brown sugar. After shampooing the oil out, scrub the conditioner/brown sugar mixture into your scalp
- Rinse
(Make sure you use a weak conditioner with the brown sugar if you’re prone to an oily scalp or if you don’t usually use conditioner on your scalp).

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Protect Your Hair

We often forget to protect our hair from the brutal wind and dry air. Personally, I look ridiculous in hats! So I wear a knitted snood: it doubles to keep you warm and to keep your hair from flying all over the place. Also consider putting your hair in braids and buns or tucking it into your coat if you just can’t deal with hats!

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Limit Heat Styling

I know you may be addicted to your blow dryer or flat iron; winter is shaadi season and you want to look your best! But this is the time to treat your hair gently. If you simply must look perfectly primped, consider using rollers instead.

- Use big velcro rollers for loose waves. If done properly, it can look like you have just had a blow dry. Comb your hair while it is damp (be very gentle, your hair can break easily when wet) and roll up separate sections. Once you have had a bit of practice, it only takes 10 minutes. I usually leave them in overnight, but you can just take them out in a couple of hours when your hair is dry! For more defined curls, put the rollers in when your hair is quite damp.

- Wrap, snap & go (click HERE for link) curlers are great for messy, tight curls, and are really comfortable to sleep in, as well.

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Static Control

I’ve never tried this myself, but I’ve heard that if you suffer from static or flyaway hair, you should rub your hair between two dryer sheets.

Happy holidays, everyone, and don’t forget to treat your hair well this winter season!

Now, as a product of the eighties, I tend to doubt anything natural. My first inclination was to tease my mother and say “ewwww, mom, like, we have companies to MAKE that stuff for us now.” A lot of magazines will also tell you there are no proven benefits to using natural ingredients versus manufactured products. But the truth is, the advice of our mothers and grandmothers do hold a lot of merit. They didn’t have the luxury of free Kérastase treatments and blowouts – their techniques evolved from generations before them and were based on traditional and Ayurvedic medicine and/or an innate understanding of the human anatomy. Upon researching the effectiveness/science behind using yogurt in one’s hair, I realized our mothers were really onto something.

Yogurt (or yoghurt for our lovely ladies in the UK) is high in lactic acid, and has natural antifungal and antibacterial properties. The yogurt works to stimulate hair growth and fight dandruff by acting as a natural cleanser that tightens and clarifies the pores on your scalp. The protein properties help to strengthen and moisturize your hair and to tame persistent, pesky fly-aways by smoothing your strands. The creamy consistency and antibacterial ingredients help to soothe your scalp and reduce any itchiness. Finally, for those living in tropical areas – yogurt masks are incredibly cooling! Even if the Revlon mask that you picked up from CVS promises to accomplish the same, isn’t it better to try something completely produced in nature first, rather than with ingredients you can barely even pronounce?

There are several techniques used to make a yogurt mask – they usually vary in the ingredients added. The three listed below are the most basic methods used in South Asia as relayed by my mother and her friends:

1) Simple Yogurt

This is the easiest and least messy/time consuming method. Simply whip some plain yogurt in a bowl with a fork (this helps with ease in application) for use on dry hair before showering. The amount depends on how long your hair is. Starting on the left side near your ear, part your hair and rub the yogurt into the exposed scalp. Part your hair again an inch higher and apply the yogurt to this area. Continue the process until the yogurt has been massaged into your entire scalp. Brush on the remaining yogurt to the rest of your hair from roots to ends. Leave the yogurt in for at least an hour but no more than two – make sure to do this on a day you don’t need to be out and about. You may then rinse the yogurt out with lukewarm water and a mild shampoo. Conditioner is optional.

2) Yogurt and Egg

Perform the same method as #1, but this time when whipping yogurt, add an egg (the white part helps with strength and the yolk increases the shininess of the hair). This method also requires you to wear the mask for at least an hour, but no more than two. Make sure to wash your hair out with tepid water – you don’t want to end up with scrambled eggs in your hair from heat! Use a mild shampoo – by mild I mean a basic shampoo for normal hair that is not specifically clarifying, moisturizing or a dandruff shampoo – you’ll be negating the effects of the yogurt mask.

3) Yogurt and Mustard Oil/Olive Oil

This method is slightly different than that of the ones above in that it can be applied either before or after shampooing, but is recommended more as a conditioner rather than a mask. Whip some yogurt and add one or two tablespoons of either mustard oil or olive oil, whichever is more readily available. After washing hair with a mild shampoo, apply this conditioner and leave in for about 15 minutes. Make sure to have more parts yogurt than oil so you don’t need to reapply shampoo to get this mask out of your hair. If you feel you have used too much oil, you may shampoo again, but the idea is to have a little oil that is indiscernible remaining your hair to condition your strands.

Finally, there is the Western version of the yogurt mask that has appeared in magazines in the U.S. and U.K.. This technique asks you to blend yogurt along with pulp from fruits containing natural oils that soften your hair. These include avocados, mangoes, cantaloupe and most frequently used, bananas. If any one of you uses this method, we’d love to hear your techniques and results.

One last note: All the ladies I have asked about yogurt masks have advised that this is a beauty technique only to be used in the warm summer months. Yogurt has intense cooling properties and brings down the temperature of the body when applied on the head for long periods of time. This may sound like an old wives’ tale, but trust me, there really is something to the idea of “cooling” and “heating” foods. Therefore, pull out this mask when the weather turns warm (like now) and try to avoid using it in the winter.

Photo Credits:
http://www.merrittsforhair.co.uk/
http://stanford.wellsphere.com/healthy-living-article/herbal-remedy-ayurvedic-treatment/462331
http://www.diwinetaste.com/dwt/en2004107.php
http://www.carspace.com/guides/How-to-remove-Egg-from-your-Car
http://www.recipetips.com/glossary-term/t–33531/mustard-oil.asp
http://uk.fashion.popsugar.com/2125586